Understanding primary school
performance in Southern
Africa (SACMEQ)
Nicholas Spaull
nicspaull.com/research
nicholasspaull@gmail.com
30th AEAA Conference – Gaborone
10 Aug 2012
Full paper available at:
sacmeq
http://www.
.org/downl
oads/Working%20Papers/08_Comparis
on_Final_18Oct2011.pdf
Background: Data
SACMEQ
 Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
 14 participating countries
 61,396 Grade 6 students
 8,026 Grade 6 teachers
 2,779 primary schools
 SACMEQ II (2000), SACMEQ III (2007)
 Background survey
 Testing :
o Gr 6 Numeracy
o Gr 6 Literacy
o HIV/AIDS Health knowledge
SACMEQ: South Africa
 9071 Grade 6 students
 1163 Grade 6 teachers
 392 primary schools
Research propositions
1. Students should be functionally literate and numerate by the
6th year of primary schooling.
2. Students cannot learn if their teachers are not present, in
school, teaching (teacher absenteeism).
3. Teachers cannot teach what they do not know (teacher
knowledge).
4. Hungry children have difficulty learning.
5. Textbooks are a fundamental pedagogical tool especially in
poorer, text-deprived schools.
Distribution
of student
performance
WCA
LIM
Looking specifically
at South Africa
South Africa: Socioeconomic breakdown
SA primary school: Gr6 Literacy –
SACMEQ III (2007)
Never enrolled
2%
Functionally
illiterate
25%
Basic skills
46%
Higher order skills :
27%
17
Grade 6 Literacy – SA & Kenya
1%
SA Gr 6 Literacy
25%
5%
Kenya Gr 6 Literacy
7%
49%
46%
39%
27%
Public current expenditure
Public current expenditure
per pupil: $1225
per pupil: $258
18
Grade 6 Literacy – SA & Namibia
South Africa
Namibia
2%
27%
7%
25%
21%
12%
46%
60%
Public current expenditure
Public current expenditure
per pupil: $1225
per pupil: $668
Regional
comparisons
SA in regional context
Public Current expenditure on
Country
Total population Adult literacy
(mil)
rate
Net Enrolment
Rate (2008)
GNP/cap PPP primary education per pupil (unit
US$ (2008)
cost) 2007 – [PPP constant 2006
US$]
Survival rate to
Grade 5: school
year ending 2007
Botswana
1.92
83%
87%
13100
1228
89%3
Mozambique
22.38
54%
80%
770
792
60%
Namibia
2.13
88%
89%
6270
668
87%3
South Africa
49.67
89%
87%
9780
1225
98%
(UNESCO, 2011)
(UNESCO, 2011)
(UNESCO, 2011)
(UNESCO, 2011)
(UIS, 2009)
(UNESCO, 2011)
Source
SACMEQ III
(2007)
Self-reported teacher
absenteeism
Proportion of Grade 6
students functionally
illiterate
Proportion of Grade 6
students functionally
innumerate
Proportion of students Proportion of students
with own reading
with own mathematics
textbook
textbook
Botswana
10.6 days
10.62%
22.48%
63%
62%
Mozambique
6.4 days
21.51%
32.73%
53%
52%
Namibia
9.4 days
13.63%
47.69%
32%
32%
South Africa
19.4 days
27.26%
40.17%
45%
36%
Teacher knowledge
Maths teacher content knowledge
SACMEQ III
Preschool incidence
Grade repetition
Free school meals
Resources the issue?
More reading
textbooks


More maths
textbooks
Accountability: teacher absenteeism
(SACMEQ III – 2007 – 996 teachers)
Non-strike teacher absenteeism
SACMEQ III (2007)
25
20
4th/15
15
Days per year
10
19
5
6
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
11
11
12
14
14
14
0
29
Accountability: teacher absenteeism
(SACMEQ III – 2007 – 996 teachers)
Self-reported teacher absenteeism (days)
15th/15
SACMEQ III (2007)
Non-strike teacher absenteeism
Teachers' strikes
25
20
0
15
0
Days per year
0
10
0
0
5
7
0
0
8
9
9
10
10
0
11
12
2
0
19
0
0
6
0
0
12
14
14
14
11
8
0
20 days
30
(1 month)
Conclusions,
questions &
recommendations
Conclusions
1. High provincial inequality in SA, NAM and MOZ
2. Unacceptably high levels of functional illiteracy/innumeracy in
SA, NAM, and MOZ
3. Unacceptably high levels of teacher absenteeism in SA
4. Unacceptably high levels of grade repetiton in MOZ
5. Unacceptably low levels of textbook access in SA + NAM
6. Very low levels of preschool access in Botswana (given its
education spend per pupil)
7. Low access to free school meals in Namibia
Questions
1.
How is it possible that more Mozambican students have access to their
own textbooks than SA /NAM students, and this when SA spends 15 times
as much per child than Mozambique?
2.
Why do Namibian students do much worse on numeracy tests than on
literacy tests?
3.
Why is it acceptable in South Africa for teachers to be absent
(unjustifiably) for an entire month?
4.
Why is preschool education so uncommon in Botswana? (especially given
the international research showing cognitive benefits of ECE)
5.
For each country, what is the low-hanging fruit?
Recommendations
GET THE BASICS RIGHT
•
Get all schools in the country to minimum quality standards in both basic
infrastructure (water, electricity, desks, and so on) and in educational performance
(numeracy and literacy milestones by certain grades);
–
•
All children should have access to a quality textbook
–
•
Roll-out free school meals starting with most under-resourced communities
All pupils should attend at least one year of quality preschool education
–
•
Teacher inspectorate
Pupils who are mal-nourished should receive free school meals
–
•
Textbook campaign + survey schools to check access & use
All teachers should be in class teaching for the full school day
–
•
Set clear and succinct goals that everyone must follow. For example, “Every child will read and write by
the age of eight”; also provide parents with feedback on how their children are performing
Define curriculum and resource requirements and train Reception teachers
All teachers must have a minimum level of content knowledge in the subjects that
they teach
–
Teacher board exam?
Thank you
www.nicspaull.com/research
nicholasspaull@gmail.com
@NicSpaull